Hera
by alwayssmilingsam
Summary: Hera the god of Marriage and Family so yes fluffiness galore . No 4 in the Teslen Olympic God Challenge


**Okay so this is the fourth story in the Olympic God's one shot series. If you have missed the others they are:**

**_Thunder and Lightning_ - Tasha2109**

**_It Takes Two_ - Agrainne24**

**_This is War_ - Chatruesian**

**They are all stand alone so you don't have to read the others for this one to make sense but they are all wonderful stories full of Teslen-y goodness.**

**Enough rambling. I have the Hera the god of marriage and family so prepare for Teslen fluff - you've been warned and next week it will be Emmy1512 doing Aphrodite.**

They stood in front of the waterfall – the sun was shining just as it had been programmed to and there was no doubt the whole scene was picture perfect. He was dashing in a tailored suit and she looked stunning in a long white dress that hugged her willowy figure perfectly. She had opted to wear her long dark hair out for the occasion, lending an informality to the proceedings.

The Big Guy had performed the ceremony which had seemed somehow fitting and less than ten minutes after the ceremony had begun they were officially bound together for life. As the Big Guy pronounced them man and wife they kissed and then turned to their attendants.

It was an easy hug between the women however the men seemed more reluctant to express their emotions quite so publically. Nikola and Henry eyed each other and by silent, mutual agreement congratulations were offered and received.

With the formality over, Henry and Erica moved towards Helen who was waiting in the front row to congratulate the groom. She had smiled with maternal pride as she watched the man she had raised become a husband, just as she had smiled with pride every time she watched him as a father.

The baby in her arms began to whimper and root for food. Helen smiled knowing it was time to relinquish the warm bundle in her arms.

"Erica? I think Aisling needs you." Reluctantly she handed the baby to the beautiful bride. With her hands free she turned to the guests and informed them that dinner would be served in an hour in the library.

As she finished speaking she felt a long arm snake around her waist and grinned.

"Promise me you will never make me do that." Nikola whispered in her ear.

She turned so she could see his face to try and gauge his level of seriousness. "Nikola?"

Nikola gestured towards where he had been standing with Henry earlier. "That – the whole standing in front of everyone and promising 'til death do us part'.

"Nikola I am crushed – I have been expecting a proposal for months, I am over two hundred years old – I give new meaning to the term old maid". She said with mock seriousness.

"Very funny – you forget I share a bedroom with you and I know from personal experience that there is nothing maidenly about you." Nikola grinned at her wickedly, reminding them both of how they had celebrated earlier in the morning. "So tell me, how did I do?"

She gently patted his chest and smiled, remembering the day Henry had asked him to act as his best man.

_Nikola strolled into their bedroom and immediately moved towards Helen who was already in bed reading._

_"You're late tonight, did you and Henry get engrossed in some project again?"_

_"Actually young Heinrich and I have been sharing a delightful bottle of Chateaux Margeaux."_

_Helen looked up shocked. As far as she knew she was the only person Nikola would share wine with. "You were sharing wine with Henry?...Not just drinking it in front of him?"_

_Nikola finished undressing and sat on the edge of the bed. "It turns out …apparently…it seems young Henry thinks quite highly of me." Helen smiled. Nikola could be an arrogant ass but when it came to interpersonal relationships he was so endearingly clueless._

_"And what exactly has Henry done to make you realise this?"_

_Nikola looked at her completely perplexed. "He has asked me to be his best man – go figure." Nikola rose from the bed brushing aside how deeply Henry's request had affected him and headed toward the bathroom._

_Helen stared after him. After a few seconds she got out of the bed and followed him._

_"Why are you so surprised. In many ways Henry sees you as a father figure." Helen didn't think Nikola could look more surprised than he had earlier, apparently she had been wrong._

_"He does?"_

_"Of course he does." It had been so obvious to her, she had just assumed it had been to Nikola too._

_"Why?" Nikola asked completely bewildered._

_Helen moved closer and wrapped her arms around him. "I have no idea, you are a constant pain in the ass who drives everyone around you crazy."_

_"I know! So please explain to me why Heinrich would ask me of all people?"_

_"Perhaps he has seen the other qualities you have – the qualities I love about you."_

_"I have qualities you love do I? Perhaps you would care to elaborate Ms Magnus?"_

_Helen cocked her head to the side considering his request. "No I think not – I think your ego has been boosted enough for tonight."_

_"You are a tease Helen Magnus!"_

"Helen you haven't answered me. How did I do?"

Helen was dragged from her reverie. "Are you fishing for compliments?" She asked smiling as she leaned into his embrace.

Nikola smirked. "Actually no. I was just wondering if seeing me up there in all my suited glory gave you any ideas?"

"You have just finished begging me to promise never to want to marry you." Nikola honestly knew how to exasperate her more than any man alive.

"Nooooooo, Helen do you deliberately misunderstand me?"

"No, but I am developing a sudden urge to shoot you."

"Helen! You really have to curb these homicidal tendencies of yours, whatever will the children think?"

"The 'children' usually want to hand me the gun."

"Not those children – our children."

"Nikola! What on earth are you talking about!"

Nikola pulled her closer and spoke quietly in her ear making sure they could not be overheard by any wedding stragglers who had not yet moved to the library. "You think I haven't noticed the way you look at Aisling, you think I haven't seen the longing. I see the way you smile when you are holding her, that smile reaches all the way into your soul, I want to always see that smile."

Helen was shocked that Nikola had been so perceptive. Every time she held Henry and Erica's baby a wave of longing washed over her. She missed Ashley so much and now watching Henry and Erica as parents that she realised how much of Ashley's childhood she had missed because of her work.

"I thought I had hidden it so well." She whispered knowing there was no use denying it to him.

"I'm sure to everyone else you have but you constantly forget how well I know you."

"Fine. Yes. If I am honest I would love to have another child. But I have done the single mother thing once and I remember how hard it was."

"Last time I checked I wasn't a homicidal killer." Nikola said offended. "In fact I think over the last year I have proved over and over again my feelings for you and for your Sanctuary."

"Nikola?" Helen was bewildered by the turn of the conversation.

"You talk like the fact that you aren't married makes it a fait accompli that you won't have any more children. I believe I have shown you in no uncertain terms, several times a night in fact that my ….. baby making equipment is in excellent working order." He grinned as the slight blush that tinted her cheeks.

"Wait! Are you telling me you want to have a baby?" Helen asked incredulously.

"No. I am saying that I know you want a baby and I am more than willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal." He smiled lopsidedly at her and thought about how much fun it could be.

"And what about after I'm pregnant? What then?" Helen couldn't quite believe what she was hearing and the desire to reach for the gun she had hidden in her skirt was becoming rather overwhelming.

"Then you have a baby and I get to see you happy."

"You are unbelievable Nikola! I cannot believe that you would choose today, of all days, to bring this up. I have just watched a beautiful wedding and the first thing you say to me is that you never want to get married you then proceed to inform me of how well you apparently know me and tell me that, no you don't actually want children but you are more than happy to knock me up." Helen was breathing rapidly, furious at him. "Perhaps you should find someone else to have this no strings, no commitment, no emotional involvement relationship with."

She stalked off wondering how and when she had become so blind to Nikolas true nature. She had honestly believed he had changed, that they were building some kind of relationship, a partnership of equals. She should have known better than to open up to him, and she only had herself to blame, she had thought he had changed, hoped he had changed but apparently he was as self-absorbed as he had always been. The urge to retreat to her room was overwhelming but she knew Henry would be crushed if she did not attend his reception. Pasting on a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, she grasped a glass of champagne like a lifeline and prepared to be the 'mother of the groom', because this was as close as she would ever come to seeing a child of hers get married.

Nikola watched Helen walk off and he wondered how that conversation had gone so spectacularly wrong. If he were honest, he had expected Helen to be so happy with the idea of another child that she would be prepared to blow off the reception and head to their bedroom to start practicing.

He thought back. Things started to go a bit pear shaped when he said he didn't want a ceremony in front of the waterfall with everyone watching. He much preferred the ancient vampire ceremony that just involved the two of them pledging to combine their souls for all eternity – far more profound.

It all seemed to take a turn for the worse when he said he was prepared to have a baby with her. She had even agreed that she would like another child. He had been honest, he would be quite happy if it were just the two of them for all eternity but all he ever wanted was to make her happy and he knew creating a family together would do that.

He picked up a rock and threw it into the water. "Damn confounding woman!"

Nikola was still sitting outside an hour later when Henry came looking for him.

"What did you do to piss the Doc off so royally on my wedding day?" Henry asked as he approached the vampire.

Nikola paused for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to say anything to Henry, in the end he decided that Henry was the closest thing to a friend he had. "What makes you think I did something?"

"Because you are the only person I know who can make her really happy and really pissed – usually at the same time. Also, she mentioned something about garlic and holy water being worth a shot." Henry grinned at the look of disgust on Nikolas face.

"Now insults." Nikola turned and began pacing. "I can usually work out what I have done but this time….I don't like not knowing how to handle a situation…..it makes me…well normal. And I don't do normal".

"You want to fill me in on the details? Oh wait, are they going to gross me out? Cos if it's about ….well, you know, I think I'm better off not having those mental images."

"All I wanted to do was get married and have a family with her. I don't see why she is acting the way she is". Nikola said exasperated that she had put him in this position of having to discuss feelings. It was not something he did…ever. And since moving to the new sanctuary he had discussed feelings and played nicely with others and even began to feel like he had a home and family for the first time since he left Serbia.

"Okay, dude seriously, I can't see Magnus reacting like that if that is what you said, although you do seem to flap the unflappable more than anyone else I know there has to be more to it. What exactly did you say?"

Nikola told the young HAP about what had transpired.

"She really thinks of me as a son?" Henry asked as Nikola finished.

"I thought this conversation was about me? " Nikola said arrogantly and then rethought his tone, remembering Henry was out here on his wedding day trying to help him. "Yes she does, and if you must know I have…..well on the odd occasion…..there have been moments…..brief moments mind you,…..nanoseconds, in fact….where I have thought if I had ever had a son I would want him to be like you." Nikola mumbled the last part but it was just coherent enough for Henry to hear and he smiled knowing it was the closest thing to a compliment that the vampire would ever give him.

Henry supressed the urge to laugh at the bewildered Vampire, knowing it would not help the situation. "Let me get this straight, you told the Doc that you didn't want to get married and you didn't want to have a child but you actually do?"

"You are as bad as Helen!" Nikola grumbled. "I asked her not to put me through a ceremony like yours…..not that is wasn't lovely." Nikola said as an afterthought. "I just think that given our immortality and long history and the fact that in the eyes of the world we are both dead…..well I thought we could just have something for the two of us."

"Ahhh" Henry responded.

"'Ahhh', that's all you've got for me, 'ahhh'. I never should have said anything." Nikola began pacing again.

"It was a good 'ahhh'. It was an 'I know what the problem is 'ahhh'". Henry informed him.

"Well don't keep me in suspense."

"You may have meant you don't want a ceremony like ours but you do want to marry the Doc right?" Nikola nodded. "But what the Doc heard was that you didn't ever want to get married."

"That's not what I said!"

"Doesn't matter what you actually said, or even what you meant. It's what she heard."

Nikola shook his head. Henry couldn't possibly be right. Helen had always been able to read him like a book, it was one of the things he loved most about their relationship, the fact that they could communicate so well, often without having to say a word. But what if Henry was right? Did that mean she had misunderstood everything he had said tonight?

"I need to find Helen." Nikola said decisively.

Henry looked across the gardens and saw Magnus walking towards them. "Well you're in luck she is headed this way."

A few moments later Helen reached them, smiling at Henry and turning a wary glare to Nikola. "I think Erica is wondering where you have gotten to Henry."

"Right, yeah I'd better get back." He leaned in and impulsively gave Helen a kiss on the cheek, whispering, "hear him out."

Helen smiled. "I expect a dance later."

Henry grinned back at her as he walked off. "You're on."

Nikola wasn't sure how to proceed so he went with the first thing that came into his head. "You look radiant tonight. You always look beautiful….but tonight….tonight….well radiant". Nikola mentally sighed. This was not going well. "About earlier."

Helen interrupted. "Don't Nikola. Please don't spoil Henry's wedding day for me." She looked at him, begging him not to say anything else.

"Helen I love you. When I said don't put me through that, I meant I didn't want that type of ceremony for us."

Helen stood there dumbfounded. She knew what Nikola was like – she knew that often the first thing he said wasn't always exactly what he meant so why, when it came to something as important as this had she reacted so ridiculously emotionally and not given him time to fully express what he meant?

"So you do want to get married?" She asked tonelessly.

Nikola took a breath this was it, all or nothing. "Vampires had a ceremony." He need to get this out right the first time, he couldn't risk another misunderstanding. "The couple chose a spot special to them and they promised to bind their souls together for all eternity. I thought…..well I thought it was more us…but if you don't want to…."

"You want to bind our souls together for all eternity?" Helen whispered.

"Well …..yeah." He said, hoping he hadn't made a monumental mistake.

Helen looked at him and the tears welling in her eyes began to roll down her cheeks. Nikola was finding this all rather disconcerting, Helen Magnus did not cry. "And as for the kid thing, it's not that I don't want them…..I was just trying to say I would be fine if it was just the two of us if we ….you know…..can't. But if we can …..well then….." Nikola knew he was making a hash of this whole discussion.

Helen wiped the tears from her face and at the mention of not being able to have children she looked at Nikola startled. She grabbed his hand and started walking. "C'mon".

"What?...Wait…Helen where are we going?" Nikola had no idea what had gotten into her.

"Lab." She said succinctly. "Oh and yes by the way."

"Yes to what?"

"Yes, I want to bind myself to you forever."

"Helen what has gotten into you? One minute you want to shoot me the next you are crying and now you are racing me off to your lab in the middle of a wedding reception. And good, about the binding that is, any thoughts on where?"

"I need to run a blood test. What about the sculpture garden, it's where I first told you I loved you."

"What blood test? Surely it can wait until tomorrow? What about Oxford? It's where I first told you I loved you." He countered.

"No I think I need this answer now. And no to Oxford. There are too many other memories associated with it."

"Fine! What exactly is this blood test that has to be done right now? And fine sculpture garden it is."

They arrived at the lab and Helen immediately set about taking a blood sample from herself and analysing it. As they waited for the results she asked, "were you serious about wanting a child together or were you just saying it to make me happy?"

"Helen, if we can have a child I will love it as much as I love it's mother but if we don't I won't feel like I am missing out on anything because I will always have you. Now are you going to tell me what we are doing here when I could have you upstairs twirling you around a dance floor?"

"Exactly how many time have you seen me cry?"

Nikola thought about it and could only come up with one. "Once, when Ashley…." He didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to drag up the memories for her.

"Exactly. And how many times have you seen me storm off without at least giving you a chance to explain yourself?"

Nikola thought about it. She had stormed off on more occasions that he cared to remember but she had always heard him out first. "What is your point?"

"My point is I am being emotional and irrational. I am never emotional and irrational."

"Helen will you just get to the point!"

Helen looked at the computer and smiled as she saw the results.

"The point is I have only ever been this moody once before." Nikola gestured with his hand for her to get on with it. "When I was pregnant with Ashley" she said quietly but could not keep the grin off her face.

"Are you telling me you are pregnant?" Nikola asked, shocked more than he ever thought possible.

"Yes." Helen was trying to gauge his reaction but at the moment all she could see was shock.

"You're sure?"

"Blood tests don't lie." She still couldn't tell his response to the news as he grabbed her hand and lead her back up to the reception.

Five minutes later he was dancing with her in his arms and she still could not see anything other than shock on his face and he hadn't said a word. Just as she was about to get up the courage to ask him what he thought about the news she felt his hand slip between their bodies and press gently against her stomach. "Wow", he whispered.

Helen smiled as Henry and Erica danced past them. "I take it he managed to say all the right things Doc?"

Helen's grin widened. "I think you and Erica may have inspired him."

"I am standing right here you know." Nikola said indignantly while wearing a particularly goofy grin.

The End


End file.
